Chapter 25: Recollection

Now, though, we get to the meat of it. What do we do, now that we recognize the potential threat that this new Reality is? We can no longer shut ourselves away. But we can give ourselves time to get our affairs in order.

- 'To Stand Alone', taken from Post 13

Matsushiro Site, 2 Days Later

It was more than a little weird, Misato decided, to be walking through these halls and see what few people were left here, once from NERV and now a part of HERZ, scrubbing the ever-familiar leaf off the walls of what was to become HERZ's headquarters.

A part of her would almost miss the red maple-leaf insignia, how it represented a shield against the attacking Angels, a great defense mounted by humanity. She would not, however, miss what else it represented. A suborning of the will of humanity, as Daniel had once artfully called it, back in the nascent days of the Anti-Instrumentality Committee. No, getting rid of the leaf was a sign of a fresh start, both within and without the walls of this place.

As she passed yet another cleaning crew painting over the symbol, she thought, seemingly for the first time, of a rather pertinent question. 'What is going to replace it?'

She was, by no means, an art student of any great skill, but as she put a part of her mind to work on the task of coming up with a new symbol for HERZ, she knew she could at least have a few general ideas that could be bounced off the others. And Faez was a painter...

She arrived at the meeting place, one of the empty Evangelion bays, just ahead of Daniel, Eleanor, and Rei, coming to a stop next to Ritsuko and Maya and noting the catching smooth stone pendants they wore on leather cords, a strange symbol gleaming with a dull white light on their faces.

"Nice necklaces." Misato said with a somewhat bemused expression. "Is everyone on the expedition going to be wearing one?"

Ritsuko nodded. "Well, what they'll be wearing is going to be based on this. Ours are going to be the testbeds for what comes next."

Eleanor nodded as she and Daniel came to rest by the other's side. "And what does the symbol mean?"

Maya shrugged. "I just wanted something simple to draw." she admitted. "After all, we are going to be making a lot of these once we get ready to bring the pumps through to the LCL lake."

Misato shrugged after a moment. "Fair enough."

She turned to look at Daniel. "Alright, you're our ticket in. We're ready whenever you are."

Daniel nodded in turn. "Alright then, I'll get the portal up and running now."

Daniel closed his eyes and furrowed his brow in concentration, his hand slowly coming palm up as a sphere of deep blue sprang to life in his hands. A few seconds later, it ballooned into a thin oval, a space a few meters away from the group sprouting a similar oval a little taller than 2 meters of deep blue fading into bright blue edges.

The structure hummed quietly, and the faint smell of ozone began to fill the space.

"Opening the bridge now." Daniel said, beads of sweat beginning to drip down his face as the deep blue space of the oval parted like a curtain, revealing a familiar white floor surrounded by tall crimson crystals, the massive form of Lilith peeking from the edge of one side.

"Alright, let's get a move on, then." Daniel said. "Holding this open for long is going to be a strain."

The group hurried through into Terminal Dogma, the portal closing behind them as Eleanor took up the rear and stepped through last.

The group took a few deep breaths. The air was warm and thick here, like being in the middle of an equatorial rainforest. Soon, sweat began to appear on everyone's brow, at least before Daniel, Eleanor, Misato and Rei summoned their suits of armor around them.

Ritsuko and Maya looked on with a little envy. "There's temperature control in those suits, isn't there?" Ritsuko asked slowly.

Misato nodded. "Yup." she said apologetically. "Sorry, guys."

Ritsuko tsked softly. "Man," Maya said, "we should probably get some of those soon. Especially if we're going to be here for long periods of time."

"Agreed." Ritsuko looked over at Rei. "If you'll come with us, we'll blaze a trail to the clone chamber."

Rei nodded as she joined Ritsuko and Maya. "Very well. Do we have any provisions to stop the bodies from turning into LCL at an inopportune moment?"

"We'll use our Interfacing when we get close to the Corite again." Ritsuko said. Then she looked back up at Daniel, Eleanor, and Misato. "I hope you three can keep yourselves busy here." she said. "We do have all this Corite surrounding us, so I'm sure you'll figure something out."

Eleanor tilted her head slightly. "Corite?" she asked.

Daniel put a hand on her shoulder. "It's what we've been calling the core material."

"Oh." Eleanor nodded slowly. "Suriel called them 'transitory crystals'. Interesting".

Daniel shrugged as he looked at Ritsuko, Maya, and Rei. "We'll find something to do. Stay safe."

Ritsuko nodded. "We will."

With that, the three women turned and walked towards the entrance into what was left of the rest of the Geofront.

As they walked away, Daniel looked around slowly at the perimeter of Corite that surrounded them. "Hmmm…" he walked towards a section that they were close to, a gauntleted hand cupping his helmet's chin. "I have to wonder," he said, "does this grow back? I didn't keep this tower active after we left with you, darling."

Eleanor shrugged slightly as she walked to Daniel's side. "We can test that right now, of course." she said.

"We'll need to clear it out anyway." Misato said. "Let's see if it'll stick."

Daniel raised an arm, and the somewhat mesmerizing crystal the tower was made of appeared on the palm of his hand.

As the three adults began to experiment, Ritsuko, Maya, and Rei stopped for a moment in front of a low, almost grass-like patch of Corite that stood between them and the door out of Terminal Dogma.

"Alright." Ritsuko said, taking a deep breath as she shuddered slightly. "The moment of truth."

She paused for a moment before looking over at Maya. "Who goes first?"

"Well, I'll go first." Maya said. "After all, any good research assistant is on the front lines of testing something that the head scientist has developed."

"But you're not just my research assistant. You're my girlfriend. And besides, I'm the one who developed this Inscription, I'll keep an eye on it and note whatever changes there need to be made to it."

"Ah, but not only am I your girlfriend, dear Senpai, you are my girlfriend as well. And even as my Senpai, I have been trained by Izalith as thoroughly as you have when it comes to Inscriptions. I can monitor it as well. So, it seems we are at somewhat of an impasse."

Rei sighed quietly as she put a hand on Maya's shoulder, causing her to jump slightly. "I will follow you a little way into the Corite, and pull you away should anything dangerous occur." she said firmly.

Maya sighed quietly. "Well, I see you make a good point." she took another deep breath. "Well… here I go."

She stepped forward hesitantly, the crystals crunching under the heavy boots that she wore. She took one step, then another. After a few more steps, Rei and Maya both stood in the Corite fully, and Ritsuko and Maya both tensed as Maya stood, waiting for… something.

But the smooth stone necklace did not flicker or dim, and no trace of the gleaming orange haze of the transformation into LCL touched any part of Maya's bare skin.

Maya sighed as she turned to look at Ritsuko. "Alright. I think it's safe."

Ritsuko sighed herself as she stepped into the Corite proper. "Oh, good. I'd hate to see it fail for you."

Ritsuko then looked at Rei. "Alright. Let's go."

. . .

Horaki Residence, Tokyo-2

Kensuke's eyes narrowed as he slipped the parts of the bolt assembly back together for the Dragunov rifle that lay disassembled before him. The rifle was Mr. Horaki's, who had revealed himself to be a gun collector of no small stature. Even with his original residence in Tokyo-3, he'd gotten most all of his collection, which ranged from the unsurprising Japanese and American pistols, submachine guns, and rifles to the surprisingly eclectic Russian and European, and a rare few African parts of his collection.

Kensuke had attacked assembly and disassembly of the military gear of his dreams with no small amount of gusto, and eventually, Mana, Mayumi, Mariah, and Ichigo had come along.

Mariah had shown herself, true to her word, to be comfortably familiar with almost any kind of firearm placed before her, dragging Mana to her side to explain in near excruciating detail the ins and outs of whatever weapon she had gotten her hands on today, Mana content with nodding along with her, admittedly basic, understanding.

To Kensuke's surprise, not only did he draw Ichigo to his side, but also Mayumi, who had displayed a surprising knowledge— to all parties— of some of the inner workings, if not of the guns themselves, then at least the names of the parts.

"Okay," he said calmly as he held the assembly up to allow Mayumi and Ichigo to better see it, "we slip this bolt carrier back here where it goes, then this collection of springs and pins that makes up the firing mechanism goes back together."

"Then the holding pin for the firing mechanism and the cover, then the sight." Mayumi said slowly as she nodded.

Kensuke nodded in turn as he did as Mayumi said. "Like so."

As he finished reassembling the Russian sniper rifle, he looked over at Mayumi with an arched eyebrow. "I've got to say, you have a good head on your shoulders for this sort of stuff. Do you think one of your parents was in the military?"

"Perhaps. Was one of yours?"

"Yeah." Kensuke said quietly, as he nodded slowly. "Dad was a gun nut, even before he joined the JSSDF. I basically grew up around guns and military surplus."

"Did… did he…"

"Yeah." Kensuke nodded. "In the first Battle of Tokyo-3, when the Russians and Chinese invaded. He left… a lot. But I lost a lot too, before he died. Like…"

Kensuke trailed off, and began to ponder for a moment on his Spirit. Specifically, its capabilities.

"My camcorder." he said, his voice barely above a whisper as his Grip appeared in his hand. As he connected with his Spirit, felt its curiosity, he thought about that camcorder, the make and model, what it felt like, what he had shot with it, what memories he had captured.

And the Spirit responded in kind, taking in Metos from him like a drain had been unstoppered, the space above Kensuke's Grip glowing as a wireframe assembly of the camcorder slowly sprouted into existence, growing seemingly from the inside out, until finally, with a flash, the camcorder itself hung in the air.

With wide eyes, Kensuke reached a hand, slightly trembling from the effort of the Spirit's Expression, out to hold the camcorder, feeling its weight fully settle into his hand as he disconnected from his Spirit and his Grip disappeared.

All eyes were now on him as he regarded the device. "I, uh… I gotta say, Ken," Mariah said, "that's one hell of a magic trick you just pulled."

Kensuke nodded absentmindedly as he opened up the side panel of the camcorder, switching to the saved files with a practiced ease.

It was all on there. All the way back to before the Angels had even begun attacking.

"Yeah." Kensuke said softly. "Yeah, it is."

. . .

Terminal Dogma

As Daniel, Eleanor and Misato cleared away the Corite, they found themselves pleased at their progress.

"At least this stuff isn't growing back." Misato said. "That makes the days ahead a lot easier."

"Agreed." Daniel replied. "At this rate, we might even reach the lake today."

"It could always go a little easier though." Eleanor added as she paused for a moment to look up at Lilith. "I wonder…"

"What has the gears turning, dear?" Daniel said.

"If I can get back in there, I wouldn't be surprised if I can turn off the Corite, at least in here. Make things a little easier for us."

"Not bad, but having the security for the MP-Evas is a bit of a nice bonus. I'm not sure I'd like to give that up."

"Nobody said it had to be for a long time. And once we've got adequate defenses set up in here, we won't need the active Corite here in Terminal Dogma as an obstacle."

Daniel silently mulled the proposition over for a moment. "How long do you think it will take?"

"I familiarized myself with the Vessel's controls for a week waiting for you." Eleanor said, a slight smile evident in the tone of her voice. "It'll be fairly quick."

It was a moment more before Daniel nodded. "Alright. Go ahead. Misato and I will keep clearing the way."

Wings of water appeared on Eleanor's back as she gently lifted off the ground, then flew towards Lilith, a dot landing on top of a giant as Daniel established a connection with her soul.

"Let us know when you get back out. We won't be leaving without you this time. I promise."

"Good. See you in a few."

With that, he felt Eleanor disappear into the Vessel, and he sighed quietly.

"Do you remember first seeing this thing?" he asked Misato after a moment.

She nodded slowly. "Yeah. I don't think I'll ever forget it. Hanging there, the mark of SEELE on its mask…"

"Larger than life. Than any sane and reasonable thing should ever really be."

"When did you first see it?"

"In the flesh? Years ago, now. When it was rising up through Terminal Dogma looking like Rei during the End of Evangelion."

It was silent for a moment. "Oh."

Daniel shook his head. "Anyways. We're making decent progress. Let's impress Eleanor when she gets out."

. . .

Ritsuko, Maya, and Rei were somewhat thankful that the Corite hadn't breached past the doors of Terminal Dogma. Not that it made their trek any easier, as the ruined state of the base made for just as stubborn of an impediment as the Corite would have.

They stood, or rather, hanged, in front of the elevator door to the level with the clone chamber, flashlights cutting slices of clarity from the darkness of the shaft.

"Let's see…" Ritsuko said as she looked around. "I can't make much of a platform without a risk of breaking off, but it'll be enough, I think."

"Whatever you're doing," Maya interjected, "you might want to be quick. I don't know about Rei, but my arms are starting to get tired."

Ritsuko placed a hand on a side panel next to her, at the foot of the doors, and focused, a thick foothold growing with a slight scraping of metal. As it finished forming, she created a similar platform opposite of it, and soon enough, she clambered onto the platform, only a little wider than she was, Maya climbed up to the other platform, and they reached across to the seam of the doors.

With their Interfacing and a stable platform for leverage, the doors slid apart easily, allowing them into the dark corridor, a few spots along the way intermittently lit by patches of red from the few functioning emergency lights left as they slowly walked down the hall.

As they walked, the group clearing rubble and opening doors as they went, they came upon the final door separating them from the clone chamber.

Ritsuko peered behind the door with her Sight. "Well, there's certainly no lack of Frames in there. We should have what we need."

"One would hope." Rei said as Ritsuko and Maya gripped the door with a now practiced ease, sliding it open with a scraping crunch.

The emergency power in this room had persevered, the tank glowing slightly as the bodies within cast shadows within it. Their presence was like a weight in the back of Rei's mind, her consciousness pulling them towards her like a magnet. As such, they all turned to face her with unerring accuracy.

Rei blinked as she realized the bond that she shared with her bodies, and severed it, the heads of the tank's clones slumping forward slightly.

Maya shuddered at the sight as she went to a console by the massive window of the tank. "I'm sorry, Rei. That is just… freaky."

Rei nodded slightly as her helmet disappeared and she stared back into her slack, expressionless faces. "On that, we are in agreement."

Ritsuko, who had opened a panel and began to fiddle with the power distribution, gave an 'Aha!' as the main lights flickered back on, the claw machine-like crane arm twitching slightly as it came online.

She stood, and walked over to join Maya's side and begin studying the controls. "Alright. Any one of these should do. Let's just get the one closest-"

"Ritsuko-" Rei began.

Before either could continue, a clone of Rei shoved its way past a clump of bodies in front of Ritsuko and Maya and began to bang on the glass over and over again, shouting wordlessly.

Ritsuko and Maya stumbled back in shock, while Rei's eyes were simply wide for a moment. 'How…'

But right now, how didn't matter. "I'm getting her out." Maya said, rushing back to the panel and typing madly at the controls before looking back up at the clone. "Go up there, towards the claw!" she said as clearly as she could, pointing up to the crane arm. "Go!"

After a moment's seeming confusion, the Rei clone began to swim and push off of other bodies towards the claw. As she reached it, Maya activated it, the prongs of the claw clamping down on the clone's body and bringing it down to an airlock.

"Draining LCL now." Maya said, as the orange liquid gurgled down the drain, the clone falling on her knees as she began hacking up LCL from her lungs, the door out sliding open to her coughs as Ritsuko and Rei rushed forward.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Ritsuko said as she helped the girl cough up the last of the LCL. "Who are you? Can you understand me?"

The girl looked between Ritsuko and Rei with a look of utter confusion, her mouth opening and closing silently.

"Allow me." Rei said calmly, as she connected to the girl's soul. "We are not here to hurt you. We are here to help. I am Rei Ayanami. Who are you?"

"Who are you?

Who am I? Where am I? What's going on?"

Rei shook her head slightly. "I'm going to give you a language so you can speak with us out loud."

Rei then bundled a basic understanding of Japanese into her mind, and pushed the knowledge through her link, the effort drawing a deep breath out of her as her clone's eyes widened.

"Now," Rei said aloud, patiently, "are you okay?"

It was a long moment before the clone replied. "I… I think so." she said slowly.

"Good." Ritsuko replied. "What is your name? Do you have one?"

A pause, then the clone slowly shook her head. "I don't know. All I remember is the… the…" she looked back at the massive aquarium filled with Rei's bodies.

"Tank? That's all you remember? How long have you been in there?"

"I don't know. I just remember being in there, and wondering how long it had been."

There was a moment of silence and Ritsuko pondered on what the clone had said. "Alright. Come with us. We'll get you out of here and checked up on."

"Okay." the clone said as Ritsuko pulled her to her feet.

"Well," Maya said, "if she's okay, I'll go ahead and get the bodies we need extracted."

"Alright." Ritsuko nodded as she looked back at the clone. "Three of you, now." she mused quietly. "This is getting… complicated."

. . .

Horaki Residence

The day had grown long, and the sun was now setting. Thus, the group of nascent (and not so nascent) gun enthusiasts was getting ready to head home for the evening.

Kensuke held his camcorder like it was made of spun glass as he and the others waited in the living room. He had regaled the others with tales of the things he'd caught on video, like the time he'd gotten caught in an Angel attack while trying to film Unit-01 ("Shinji was crazy good, but man, it was super scary, being in that Entry Plug."), or the time that he'd gotten caught in an Angel attack on an aircraft carrier ("I even got a great shot of the Angel and Unit-02 right here!").

The rest, he'd said, were just somewhat boring videos of military parades, nothing truly noteworthy in them. The fact that, from then on, more than a few videos had Sayaka and Kyoko in them went unspoken.

Now, they simply waited, jumping slightly as the doorbell rang. Mr. Horaki made his way towards the door, a reassurance that he would answer it all he left behind him as he reached it.

After a quiet moment, Mr. Horaki stepped back in, a somewhat tall, pale woman following him, blue eyes and shockingly white hair framing a wide, friendly smile. "Hello! I'm Della Duck. I'm here for Mariah, Mana, and Mayumi?" she said as she waved.

"Uh, present, ma'am." Mariah replied in utter confusion as she waved her hand. "Nice hair, by the way. Must be a heck of a dye job. I've gotta say, rather interesting name, Duck and all." she paused for a moment as she narrowed her eyes. "Are you... actually a duck?" she said in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Oh. Hold on." Della pulled up a sleeve of the leather aviator jacket she wore, revealing a dull silver chain bracelet. She fiddled with the clasp for a moment, then, with a dramatic flourish, she whipped the bracelet off, a hazing of the air around her for a moment clearing to reveal a cartoon, anthropomorphic duck. "Ta-da! I am a duck, both in name and literally!"

The rest of the room was in shocked silence, many mouths hanging slightly open. "Well… uh…" Mariah said artfully. "I never expect to be right when I say that."

She shook her head slightly. "So, what do you want to do with us?"

"Well," Della began as she put the bracelet back on and became human again, "I was assigned to NERV, right before it stopped existing, apparently, then HERZ became a thing super recently, and I was assigned there, and now, I'm assigned to keep an eye on you three, be your guardian for the next little while."

Mayumi shrugged. "Well, at least it looks like our time together won't be boring, at least."

Della snorted and chuckled. "Oh, please, the last thing I want is to be boring. Well, that and stranded on the moon again, but the two are close."

"So, we'll move you into my place, and get you settled in. I hear that Mr. Theisman and the others who are treating you are getting ready to do something big in the next few days."

The girls' eyebrows rose, some higher than others as they stood. Mana and Mariah moved over to Della's side, Mariah pelting her with questions that she answered with the grace of a mother with years of experience. Mayumi, on the other hand, looked at Kensuke as he stood. "Thank you for telling us those stories." she said quietly. "They were… interesting."

"Oh." Kensuke blushed slightly. "Thanks for listening. I know I can ramble and go on tangents…"

"It makes them more interesting, I have found." Mayumi glanced over at Ichigo, who simply looked on with a somewhat interested, yet neutral, expression. "I'm glad you got your camcorder back so that you could tell your stories."

"Thanks. Maybe, I don't know, if you want my new camcorder, I know that it has a few videos of all of us doing things together. Maybe you would like to have it, start filming yourself?"

"That would be nice."

"Okay. Well… goodnight, I guess."

Mayumi nodded. "Alright. Thank you."

She turned and made her way towards the group, as Della expounded on the usefulness of the human pinky finger. "I mean, there's just so much you can do with it!" was the last thing they heard before the door shut, leaving Kensuke and Ichigo alone for the moment.

Kensuke's mind was, at least somewhat, on fire. 'Really? Really? Come on, you've only just started figuring things out with Ichigo, now you're adding Mayumi into the mix? How much of an idiot are you?'

"I'll be going then, Kensuke." Ichigo said as she walked past him, and Kensuke jumped slightly as she turned to look at him for a moment. "I'll see you later."

"Bye." Kensuke managed to muster as Ichigo left as well.

As he stood alone in the Horaki's living room, he carefully took off his glasses, setting them on an end table, then smacked himself in the face. 'Damn it. Why is my love life… no, actually, that's a good place for a question mark.'

. . .

Terminal Dogma

Daniel and Misato were, generally speaking, having a decent go of it, clearing out the Corite from around them. They had reached the LCL lake in only 20 minutes, clearing a decent-sized hole for a pump to go in with another 10.

As they set about clearing a path for Ritsuko and the others from the entrance into Terminal Dogma, Ritsuko's soul connected with Daniel's.

"I have the bodies we need. We're on our way down."

"Oh, good. We're clearing a path for you three so you won't have to worry about the bodies popping."

"That's not the only thing to be worrying about right now."

As Daniel arched his eyebrow in slight confusion, Ritsuko sent him a view of what she was seeing. In it, there was Rei, her helmet for her suit off as she carried one of the limp clone bodies wrapped in a blanket, and next to her, wrapped in a survival blanket from the armor's survival kit, stood… Rei.

"Oh, my. Another Rei Ayanami? That makes three, that we know of at least. There weren't any other clones that were alive in there, were there?"

"No, just this one. And she isn't responding to Rei, either. She… doesn't really have a name. Or any memories to speak of."

"Now that's a pickle. Eleanor's in Lilith right now, so she can't do a check-up, but I can give her a look over, see if there's anything going on with her soul that I can spot."

"Sounds good. See you in a few minutes."

With that, their connection was severed, and Daniel looked over to Misato, who looked questioningly at him.

"We've got another Rei clone walking around." Daniel said succinctly. "No memories, not another version of Rei."

Misato sighed. "This is going to be an interesting night."

"You're telling me."

As they focused on clearing the path for the oncoming group, the door opened as they stood about 8 or so meters from it.

"Hey, Ritsky." Misato called. "I heard. Where's the new girl?"

As they slowly brought the clone to the front, Misato waved as her helmet disappeared to reveal a friendly smile. "Hi. Name's Misato. Nice to meet you."

The clone blinked, then looked up at Ritsuko. "I… I wave back, right?"

Ritsuko nodded patiently. "Yes. She did greet you, and it's polite to return the gesture."

The clone nodded, then looked back at Misato and awkwardly repeated the motion. "Hello. I… don't really know who I am."

"That's okay." Daniel replied, stepping over onto the Corite to come face to face with the girl. "I'm Daniel. And I've dealt with a few cases like yours. I'd like to take a look at your soul, as strange as I'm sure it sounds. Are you okay with that?"

The clone slowly nodded. "I… guess."

"Good. Let's get you all safely across, and I'll explain what I'll do."

As they worked, the clone observed the process of clearing the Corite with wide eyes. "Is what they're doing… normal?"

"Well…" Rei replied. "I guess I must say yes, somewhat."

After a few minutes more of work, the group of women stepped into the clearing, the clone staring around her at the prone form of Lilith and the mesmerizing beauty of the crystal spire.

"Alright," Daniel began, "I'm going to connect to your soul, and take a quick look around to see if there's anything that might be blocking any memories you might have or, really, any other manipulations that someone might have done to make it so you have no memories. Is that okay?"

The clone nodded after a moment. "Very well."

"Let's begin then."

Daniel's connection touched the clone's soul, and he found… nothing. The Frames were untouched, the soul itself not pried apart or clamped upon by anything. Before the last two or three days, however, there was just… nothing. It was as if someone had taken a magnet to a CD, wiping all but a portion of it.

"Hmmm." Daniel withdrew from the clone's soul and regarded her with no small amount of confusion. "There's nothing wrong with your soul, at least that I can see. My wife, Eleanor, might be able to find something more. But for now…"

He paused for a moment. "You're in our care. We're not going to stick you anywhere out of the way. We'll help you figure things out, get adjusted to this crazy world you've just entered."

The clone nodded. "Thank you."

"Okay," Misato said, "who is she going to stay with, then?"

It was silent for a moment before Maya spoke up. "She could stay with us." she paused as she looked over at Ritsuko. "If that's okay with you."

Ritsuko looked at Maya, then at the clone, then nodded slowly. "Alright. We can figure it out."

Before anyone could continue, all in the room felt a subtle ripple of power pulse through them, seeming to seep into their bones for an instant before fading away.

"Ah." Daniel nodded. "That would probably be Eleanor deactivating the Corite in here."

Misato looked apologetically at Ritsuko and Maya as she shrugged. "Oh, well. At least you won't have to worry about making more pendants."

Ritsuko waved her off. "There will be plenty of places around here, especially in the immediate vicinity of the city, that will see us needing protection." she paused. "But it does make the immediate future easier, I will admit."

They waited for a while, the group elucidating to the clone about some of the vagaries of modern life she should expect, the girl soaking it in like a sponge. Then, with the sound of gently lapping waves, Eleanor touched down gracefully a little ways away, looking intently at the clone. "My, my." she said slowly. "We seem to have gained a passenger since I left."

The others filled her in, and as they finished, Misato nodded. "Well, I don't see any reason to waste more time here. Let's get everything, and everyone, situated where they need to go."

With a nod, Daniel walked over to the crystal spire, putting a hand to it and focusing. After a few moments, the portal once again opened, this time to the medical bay of the Val, and all stepped through, leaving Terminal Dogma once again silent.

. . .

Kensuke's Residence

Kensuke sat alone in his apartment, going through the memories on his camcorder that his Spirit had helped him retrieve. Each press of the play button brought with it old feelings, fondly remembered humor, and more ruefully recalled gaffes.

The Christmas party, Shinji and Asuka and Rei and the new kid Kaworu playing a classical piece. He'd never known that Rei could play an instrument. Then again, before now, before taking her on her first date, he'd known almost nothing about her. Every once in a while, Sayaka and Kyoko's faces would sneak in, their playful banter causing him to smile, even as tears began to well up watching his old flames, now long gone and likely moved on.

The surprise of Misato's promotion party. The whispering before lights turning on, a crowd of voices yelling out, Eleanor handing Misato the sash that showed that she was the guest of honor. He was particularly proud of the effort he'd put into something like this party, knowing it was only a small repayment for all that she had done to keep them, all of them, safe during the Angel attacks.

The day Asuka, the somewhat mysterious, rather alluring transfer student, had first attended Tokyo-3 Municipal. Most all of the student body was somewhat in awe, and he was there to capture every single moment of it.

"Oh, come on, Kensuke," Shinji had said at one point, "you don't need to creep on her like that."

Hikari had agreed. He'd called them both white knights for a girl that he and Shinji knew full well didn't need any sort of protection.

A camping trip up in the mountains. Just him and Dad, out in nature, going target shooting. The shot had him standing on the trunk of a fallen tree, scanning the area with his then-new Dragunov model pellet gun.

"Okay, Ken," an achingly familiar voice said, "it's my turn to go looking."

"Alright, alright." he'd said, clambering down from the trunk as he slung the rifle over his shoulder, taking the camera and showing a thin, but strong man, with glasses much like his, climb up onto the trunk as he sighted his far more real military issue rifle.

"How do I look, Ken?" he asked, a playful tone to his voice.

"Like you could take on the world and win!" he'd replied.

'Like you could take on the world and win…'

Kensuke thought, holding back a sob.

A knock on the door made him jump slightly, then he closed the screen of the camcorder and stood, walking over to the door and opening it.

It was Ichigo, her eyes somewhat wide as if the door opening was a surprise to her. "I apologise." she said softly. "Is it… a bad time?"

Kensuke looked at her silently for what felt like the longest time, then shook his head. "No. No. Come in. You just… caught me in the middle of something."

As Ichigo entered and Kensuke shut the door, she turned to look at him as they walked to the living room. "Is it… what's on your camcorder?" she asked plaintively.

Kensuke nodded. "It is. I've got footage all the way back to before the Angels started coming, back when I was… 10? 12?"

He shook his head as they sat on the couch, regarding the camcorder on the coffee table in front of him. "Footage with my dad. A lot of it, actually." he nearly whispered.

"I…" his breath hitched. "I miss him. So much."

With that, the dam burst, and Kensuke's head fell into his hands as he sobbed, Ichigo putting an arm around his shoulders as he wept.

They sat there as Kensuke let out what was left of his mourning, the sadness, the confusion, the anger of a life without a father in it, without someone he knew better than anyone who could show the way, give him the comfort he now so desperately needed. The comfort that he found in the person sitting next to him silently.

After the sobs began to abate, Kensuke took one deep breath, then another before wiping his eyes and looking back up to Ichigo, who looked at him almost expectantly. A quiet part of his mind noted how close she had gotten. "Thanks. I've need-"

She interrupted him with a kiss, soft and gentle, that set his mind on fire, sweeping away whatever he would have said next as his eyes went wide and he blushed deeply.

After a moment, they parted from the kiss, Kensuke continuing to stare open-mouthed as Ichigo looked away after a moment, a blush of her own complimenting her eyes. "I apologize. I wanted to comfort you." she said haltingly.

"You… you did." Kensuke finally managed. "I just… didn't expect you to be so bold."

"I've been seeking advice, recently. Those I've sought advice from told me to be… bold."

Kensuke blinked, then blinked again. "Ichigo… do you like me?"

Ichigo looked back at Kensuke, then nodded. "Yes. I do. You've… you've given me so much. Made me an individual, distinct from my sister. I'm grateful for that."

"Thank you." Kensuke said, his eyes widening slightly. "I've got a lot to thank you for as well. You… you helped pull me out of a real dark place after my dad died."

They sat there silently after that, the tension in the air slowly building.

Then Kensuke sighed quietly, putting his head back in his hands.

"Is something wrong?" Ichigo said slowly, and Kensuke could hear a hint of fear in her voice.

He took another deep breath. 'You know what? We'll get to Mayumi when we get to her. For now…'

He straightened up and looked back at Ichigo. "No. Just… just getting used to this again."